Experts have called for the reform of the Nigerian civil service to bring it in line with modern realities, FRIDAY OLOKOR writes.
Experts who gathered at a one-day discourse on the future of the civil service in Nigeria have called for the service’s reinvigoration in line with international best practices to meet the challenges of the 21st Century.
Among other issues, participants stated that over the years, the civil service had undergone several reforms aimed at improving work ethics and service delivery, the most recent being those introduced during the second tenure of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, which culminated in the articulation of the National Strategy for Public Service Reform.
Although it was agreed that the civil service reforms had recorded significant achievements, participants said in the communiqué released at the end of the discourse, “There is an absence of a robust policy management/decision making system, limited consultations with citizens on public policies, insufficient innovative policy development skills, inadequacy of alignment of the transformation phase of the NSPSR with the transformation agenda of the present administration, with a view to fixing the inherent lack of continuity, consistency and commitment in our development process.”
The event, which was organised by the Office of Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Bookcraft and Culture Advocates Caucus, had the objective of enlarging the thinking process on the future of the civil service and core of champions for the implementation angle to the much-desired national transformation.
Stakeholders agreed that despite the current challenges, the civil service in Nigeria had a rich tradition and proud antecedents, which had earned it global recognition of being a role model for efficiency and performance among West African countries and the entire Commonwealth.
Other recommendations include the promotion of professionalism in the civil service; ethical reorientation and attitudinal change; effective career management and workforce training; building and fast tracking the internal and external processes for concrete outcomes; and ensuring that civil servants imbibe and actualise the spirit of dignity of labour at all levels towards enhancing productivity.
The participants also recommended building of harmonious relationship between political office holders and the bureaucrats; managing staff welfare and dealing with corruption; and institutionalising merit-based recruitment and promotion.
In his speech, the Gombe State Governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Dankwambo, explained that the average civil servant in the country had become so frustrated due to politicisation, lopsided recruitment and bureaucratic corruption, which had assumed various forms.
He called for the adoption of a national strategy for public service reform as a potent vehicle for reform in Nigeria.
According to him, despite various reforms being put in place by successive governments since 1960, the nation’s civil service is still bedevilled by problems.
Dankwambo said the major obstacles impeding the development of the nation’s civil service must top the agenda of the Federal Government.
He said, “The major obstacles to efficiency, accountability and probity in the Nigerian civil service include over staffing at both senior and junior levels – perhaps due to low demand for power by a weak private sector. There is also weak executive capacity arising from declining quality of education and non-exposure of civil servants to regular capacity building programmes.
“There is also over bureaucratisation and red tapism in the conduct of official business; lopsided recruitment in favour of non-critical competences; politicisation of the civil service and unnecessary delay of pensions and gratuity of retired officers. The resultant effect is that the civil servant has become exceedingly frustrated and critical of the civil service.”
The governor stated that it was only when the civil service was reinvigorated that it would be able to play its inimitable role of dispensing fairness, social justice and fostering social integration in public administration.
He said, “The civil service should have an inbuilt mechanism for rewarding exemplary conduct and achievement to promote efficiency. Appointment and promotion in the civil service must be based on merit.
“There should be clear distinction between the roles and responsibilities the political leadership and that of the bureaucracy.”
In his speech, the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Alhaji Bukar Aji, said the civil service, as the machinery of government, was not insulated from other government institutions and the larger society, but rather, was an integral part of all branches and tiers of government.
“A healthy relationship is required between the civil servants and the political class. It is, indeed, crucial to democratic governance. The relationship between the politicians and bureaucrats over the years has gone through different phases and there have been several significant reforms to enhance this relationship,” he said.
But in his submission, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Youth Development, Dr. Tunji Olaopa, said “the reform management dynamics in Nigeria have failed, most of the time, to come to terms with the complexity of reform implementation, which requires that from conception to implementation and monitoring of reforms, care and vigilance are required in large dose to ensure that the reformers find the appropriate strategy that will enable them transverse the environment and logistics of reforms without running foul of the critical landmines that lead often to reform failure.”
He also advocated a paradigm shift around the productivity framework to achieve the objective of NSPSR of a world class public service and create a new generation of public managers committed to the agenda of a new productivity paradigm.